July 8.
The plants I found this day were the following.
40. Michelia. (Azalea lapponica.)
Its calyx is inconspicuous, green, in five obtuse segments. Petal one, erect, gradually dilated upwards, divided almost down to the base into five ovate segments, purple, deciduous. Stamens five, proceeding from the receptacle, erect, shorter than the petal, purplish, thread-shaped, with roundish anthers. Pistil one, thread-shaped,
inclining to one side, longer than the petal, with a globose embryo, and thick stigma. Pericarp membranous, globose, of five cells and five compressed valves, the cells fixed to the column, as in Ledum, bursting at the top. Leaves thick, ovate, evergreen, clustered at the tops of the branches, as in Ledum. Flowers about three, at the extremity of each branch, each on a simple uncoloured stalk. Is this the same genus with Dillenia (Azalea procumbens, nº. 3.)? I think not. In that the calyx and flower-stalks are coloured; two flowers proceed from each bud; the petal is firm, and cut but half way down; the calyx is half as long as the petal; the pistil is erect, shorter than the petal; the stamens are directed inwards, and not attached to the receptacle. (Notwithstanding these reasons, Linnæus united the two plants together in his Flora Lapponica, as one genus, under the name of Azalea, quoting two synonyms of Tournefort and Bauhin for this nº. 40, which belong to Rhododendrum ferrugineum,
his own plant being entirely new, if not a pentandrous variety of that Rhododendrum, which is much to be suspected. The above description, of the fruit especially, is sufficient to show it cannot belong to the same genus with Azalea procumbens, though perhaps it may accord better with the American Azaleæ.)
41. Campanula with a contracted flower. (C. uniflora.) Differs from the common blue kind, (rotundifolia,) in having the leaves as well as the flower much contracted at the base, so that the latter is funnel-shaped. The embryo is oblong, with six sides, rough, with three orifices near the base of the calyx.
42. Lychnis with a concealed flower.
(L. apetala.) Leaves pink-like. Flower solitary at the top of the stalk. Calyx ovate, inflated, closed, with ten black hispid ribs, which branch near the top. Petals five, oblong, brownish, shaped exactly like the usual claws of a Lychnis, but without any border. Stamens ten. Embryo oblong, inclining to cylindrical, contracted in the middle, obtuse, blackish. Pistils five, whitish. The petals, stamens and pistils are all concealed within the calyx.